From 17.8 until 21.8.2011 the city of Kragujevac in Serbia was the host for a unique Badminton Europe project. 17 girls and 3 female coaches were about to be pioneers for this Girls Only Camp. All over Europe this idea pops up more and more but we were very happy to receive the support of BE in this organisation.

Ravens KG Klub, in the person of Andreja Todorovic, has put a great effort in the preparations. Together with the creative and bubbly Maria Bulatovic and the charming Corina Dan the camp could only be a great success. I was much honoured that I could take part in this camp and was looking forward to this week.

The set up was the same every day; 2 trainings combined with some social and cultural activities. A basic but good plan that lead to a successful camp for all participants.

On Wednesday the players started arriving to the camp. Unfortunately Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey pulled out at the last minute. That was sad for the camp but that would not keep us from smiling and working hard.
 

The days passed very quickly and the hosts did everything to make everybody feel welcome in their town. Pancake-evening – tourist-bus-Tour – outdoor swimming pool and even an interview with a former European top athlete long jump Ana Stankovic. Miss Stankovic explained to the young girls how her career started and how she experienced her years as a top athlete. This was very impressive for the players and I'm sure they will remember her story for a while! The players did not only get a lot of trips but also a very well designed ‘Girls Camp’ T-shirt for the occasion in a bright pink as well as the BE T-shirt!    ( see pictures on Facebook )

Of course there was also the on-court training. All players showed great interest and motivation for the practices and were very keen to improve their game. Throughout the week they worked on grip changes, body posture, lunges, rear court deception, singles defence as well as some basic doubles and single tactics. It was nice to see the players try hard even when sometimes the set up was a bit different then they are used to. The players were questioned and it was nice to see how they handle the responsibility they got on court.

Throughout the week there were also some other topics covered like nutrition, warming-up for a competition, mental training … Sometimes during the training, sometimes we talked about these topics during cooling-down and stretching.

The last afternoon was filled with a tournament. First they played the group stages followed by crossed semi-finals and of course, the final of this first girl’s camp. The Romanian girls proved to be the best after this week and Adra OLARIU took home the title by beating her friend Ariana PRODAN. After the tournament we had an official ceremony where all players receive a very nice designed diploma from the Girls Camp as well as a certificate of the camp’s tournament.

Overall this camp was very rewarding and filled with lots of fun! It was something different, just girls, but it worked out very well. Thanks to all the players as well as colleagues Maria and Corina and local – Mister popular – Andreja this first Girls Camp can really be called a success!!